I have decided that I no longer want technical support. I want a customer advocate! The technical support-types try to fix a problem they don’t fully understand. Customer advocates try to understand a problem so they can develop a strategy to fix it. I was painfully reminded of this today. It is the third day that has been completely lost due to "technical support" deficiencies. Each scenario was the result of the software company that supports my contact database. Three weeks ago, I spent 10-hours on the phone with four different techy types until I demanded to be elevated to a "level-2" technician. This level-2 technician fixed the problem within 10-minutes! Two weeks later, on a different problem with the same company, I spent 2-hours on the phone with another level-1 techy before demanding I be sent back up to level-2 again. After another 30-minutes of persuasion I was transferred to a level-2 technician that fixed my problem in just 2-minutes. Simply amazing! Many companies pack their front-line with scripted robotics that create a nightmare for customers. In trying to be more efficient, they solved in 12-hours what could have been solved in 17-minutes. That’s a streamlined efficiency that I would prefer to do without! And without customers, there is not much need for technical support. Maybe it’s time that we rethink rolling out the red carpet for our customers!
